Harry Potter and the Scoobies
by Schein
Summary: The Potters are forced to send their firstborn away.. finally, after she has saved the world a lot, its her time to return to the wizarding world and meet her little brother, just in time for some evil action.. BTVSHP crossover
1. Prophecies don't you just love'em?

Chapter 1- Yet More Prophecies

I own nothing, Joss and Ms Rowling own everything!

Authors notes: this story contains spoilers right up to the end of series 7 Buffy and up to O of the P. Also, there is a 2 year age gap between Buffy and Harry, Harry is 16 and the scoobies are all 18.

Flashback- 

James stood over his beautiful daughter, watching her with devoted eyes as he kissed her crumpled forehead, and with a heavy heart he kissed her one more time, knowing that it could be the last. His wife had already turned her back to the scene, she was so determined not to break down and upset her daughter even more.

'I'm sorry Lily, James but there is no other way. Becky must go. You know this is necessary. But I promise to you that I will make sure she is well cared for as she grows up, and that as soon as possible, she will be back with you.' said Dumbledore, picking up Becky. A moment later he was gone with a pop and Lily fell sobbing into James' arms.

21 years later-

Buffy woke with a start as her slayer senses started going mad- there was something in her room.

After Sunnydale had become a nice big crater, Buffy, Dawn, Willow, Kennedy, Giles, Faith, Robin and Xander and some of the slayers had been invited by some of Giles 'important' English friends to come and have a holiday in a Devon mansion as a 'Thank You' for saving the world and everything. It had taken all of 3 weeks for Willow and Kennedy's relationship to break down and to be honest Buffy, Xander and a few of the others were quite glad that she wasn't going to be a permanent addition to the Scoobies. Xander was still caught up in a torrent of emotions following Anya's death, and Buffy was on a roller coaster after Spike's heroic death, laden down with guilt although she could not pinpoint what she felt guilty for. Sadly, Robin and Faith were also having problems as they had a very intense relationship, they would go through phases of being really lovey-dovey and then suddenly have a passionate argument, both sulk for a few days and one of them would eventually concede (usually Robin) and they would be giggling again.

Throwing off her duvet cover and leaping into a fighting stance she turned and pinned something against a wall.

'Lumos' a voice said, and in an instant, the room was filled with a warm glowing light. Buffy was momentarily stunned before her eyes fell on what she was pinning up against the wall threateningly. A elderly man with long silver hair and twinkly midnight eyes was looking at her with a disconcertingly friendly expression. Now that the shock had worn off she realised that her slayer senses weren't tingly in an 'arghh scary demon' sort of way but in a 'ohh fluffy puppies and kittens' kind of way.

"Would you be so good as to let me down, only you're stretching my new robes.' he said, and Buffy in utter confusion cautiously lowered him to the ground.

"You have your mother's eyes you know" Dumbledore said sadly, surveying the slayer, who was still posed in fighter mode-the kittens and puppy tingle was so novel that she was still on her guard

Buffy looked at the weird old beardy guy in alarm "you knew Joyce? Heyy did she have a hippy past that I never knew about? Coz if she did, I want to see the pictures!"

"Buffy, or should I say Becky, while Joyce raised you and loved you like a daughter, you were actually born to a Witch and Wizard couple called James Potter and Lily Evans. they were just out of school at the time, only 19. You were christened Becky Potter' said Dumbledore

Buffy wasn't sure if this was someone's idea of a joke, but as she digested what he had said, she began to remember all sorts of things that started to click into place. Like the fact that she had never felt related to her dad, and that as much as she loved Joyce, she couldn't claim to have inherited any of her personality traits. And they hadn't even looked that similar before Joyce had dyed her hair blonde. For once, even Buffy was unable to come with any wisecracks.

'Emm.. you what now? Let me guess- they loved me very much but they didn't feel ready to take on the responsibilities of having a child?' Buffy said in a unusually shaky voice

'Yes and no. They definitely loved you very much, but they did not give you away of their own free will. There was a prophecy' At this Buffy rolled her eyes, looking a bit more like the normal Buffy.

'You see, shortly after your sixth birthday a famous seer came to me and told me about his vision. He told me that you were the only hope that the world had, and that you would be the one to save the world, but that you would not be able to achieve your destiny in the wizarding world, for reasons yet to unfold. Each time you have saved the world I have consulted the seer, and each time he has informed me that bigger and badder things were coming. However last month, he told me that I could at last tell you about your true heritage, but unfortunately he also said that he could not specify why, just that all he had been able to tell from his dreams was that it was better for you to know. When we prepared to give you up for adoption, to a carefully chosen niece of one of my colleagues, Joyce Summers, we cast a spell to make sure that the only people who would be able to recognize you for who you are are a blood relative, me or your parent's closest friend. However, I can reverse this spell and everyone who once knew about Becky Potter will know again, and recognize you. Rest assured though I will only do this at your wishes.'

After Dumbledore had filled them in on a lot more of the basic story of the past, he started to tell them about more recent issues that he thought Buffy would be particularly interested to hear

'There is one more major thing that I have missed out so far. 16 years ago there was another prophecy, this time about a boy named Harry. It stated that he was the only hope that we had of defeating a dark, powerful wizard named Voldemort. When he was three months old, his parent's best friend betrayed them and told there whereabouts to Voldemort, and naturally he came after them. He succeeded in killing both Harry's mother and father but thanks to an ancient magic Voldemort had overlooked, he could not kill Harry. The curse rebounded and Voldemort lost his power. For eleven years Voldemort laid dormant, but for the last four years it has become sort of an annual event for Voldemort to try and regain his old powers, but each time so far he has been thwarted by Harry.

"Poor guy, I know what it feels like when evil just wont stop giving you a rough time" said Buffy, not completely interested

"You may be wondering what the relevance of Harry's story is to yours Buffy, and perhaps I should have mentioned this earlier, but Harry is your brother Buffy. And, as Dawn is made from your blood, he is her blood brother too."

Buffy looked at him incredulously, tried to take on board everything that she had been told. Failing, she slumped to the floor in a dead faint.

AN: sorry its a bit of an explainy chapter, has to be done, more will be posted soon.


	2. Scarface

I own nothing, Joss and Ms Rowling own everything!

Authors notes: this story contains spoilers right up to the end of series 7 Buffy and up to O of the P. Also, there is a 2 year age gap between Buffy and Harry, Harry is 16 and the scoobies are all 18.

Shadow High Angel: Thanks  hope you continue to enjoy it!

Allen Pitt: Ahh well you will have to see who Joyce's relative was. It won't be integral to the plot (I don't think) but it is someone from the wizarding world. The story is after OofP, so Sirius is dead  but.. you know there were rather a few resurrections in Buffy.. And no, Faith is going to stay firmly put in Cleveland, annoying Robin and getting her power trip from leadership.

Tombadgerlock: You know I never really thought about Harry/Willow siblingship. It just seemed to me the logical thing to do to have the two heros siblings- I'm not sure how Dawn is going to play out though. And WR/HG- not sure, would be fun to write but Hermione and Ron are so cute together..

Krycek's Immortal Slayer: Just Becky -sounds better when paired with Harry. Hopefully this story will get taken somewhere different- I haven't quite decided where- there are so many possibilities!

Angel Love Buffy: sorry! will edit it so it flows more naturally. Thanks for advice etc!

Neris: Hopefully you wont be too disappointed by this chapter, its hard to get into the story when all the explanations are needed..

British slayer: thank you! i love getting nice reviews!

Brinie: its coming! i'll be quicker at updating i promise!

Too all: thanks for reviewing  this is my first story so its really useful

A week later..

Dawn woke up with a knot in her belly. She sat up, and then realised with eager anticipation that today was the day when she was going to meet her big brother and get to meet real wizards who used broomsticks and wands and made potions. Unless Dumbledore had been messing with her head about the broomstick thing..

Next door, Buffy was also wide awake, contemplating what the day would hold for her. Not only would she have to face the life that she could have led, she also had a sneaking suspicion that she was going to get involved in this war against Voldemort. 'Awful name' she said allowed, then let her thoughts trail back into her head.

It wasn't so much that she was apprehensive about meeting her brother as the impact he would have on her life, which finally seemed to be settling down. At any rate, she knew she was glad to have an excuse to extend her holiday and delay her return to the new hellmouth in Cleveland. It would give Faith a chance to lead the girls without Buffy always being in the limelight, and Buffy knew that Willow was glad to have an excuse not to go back and face Kennedy. Giles and Xander had decided that they would stay for a few days, but that they had better return back to Cleveland and make sure Faith hadn't turned their new boarding school for Slayers into a brothel.

Willow, Buffy, Dawn, Giles and Xander said goodbye to their British hosts, and left the house where they were met by a red headed man who seemed to be hopping with excitement at the prospect of driving real muggles- or what appeared to be real muggles anyway. He introduced himself as Arnold Weasley, and took it upon himself to engage in what he considered a macho muggle greeting with all the men, consisting of several backslaps and a handshake for good measure. The car was a beaten up Mini, but strangely seemed to comfortably fit all their luggage in, and bore more resemblance to a luxury hotel suite than a car inside. As it took off with a bang, and proceeded to squeeze itself between traffic, and on one occasion squash itself under a passing horse, Dawn and Buffy shared a glance that showed they both recognized that this would be one of the first of many peculiarities of the day.

When Willow had found out about the magical world, she had felt strangely unshocked, like there was already a part of her that sensed there had to be more magic in the world than what she had witnessed. In fact, as the car hurtled towards their destination, she could sense an overwhelming magical pull that she had not felt before that seemed to be alerting her of its presence. There had been no question that she would go with Dawn and Buffy, she just knew on both a conscious and subconscious level that it was the right thing for her to do. She also couldn't stop her mind from wandering over a whole new world full of hot witches..

Arthur was thoroughly puzzled. Dumbledore had not explained the exact nature of the situation to him, and while he didn't like to probe, he couldn't help but be curious about why Dumbledore had asked him to bring these people to his home, where his wife, Ginny, and Ron and his friends all sat waiting for these prominent guests of Dumbledore. However, he just couldn't see why these ordinary looking Americans (bar the older man in tweed) were so important. He breathed a sigh of relief when the familiar sight of the burrow meant that he knew answers would be coming soon. He could see the clan outside the house, waiting to see what he had brought home for them, and he noticed with a smile that Dumbledore seemed to be amusing himself in the garden throwing gnomes over the fence and tickling leprechauns till they turned pink and spat up a little pile of gold. When he caught sight of the car, the headmaster regained his composure and let go of all the small creatures he was holding onto.

"Ahh welcome to the home of one of the finest wizarding families around- the Burrow" said Dumbledore cheerfully, not betraying his fears about Harry's reaction to the secret he had been keeping from the boy. As Giles and Dumbledore shook hands, Buffy and Dawn were busy staring at the boy with the scar on his forehead. Harry noticed and scowled, wishing that people wouldn't always recognize him so immediately. Everyone seemed rather on edge, as could be expected, and they were all glad when Mrs Weasley bustled around the guests, collecting their coats and ushering them into the living room for butter beers. Finally, the polite conversation got a little stale, and Dumbledore realised that if he didn't explain the situation soon then the impatient blonde American next to him was going to say something much blunter instead.

"You may be wondering why I brought these guests here today" He began, addressing the Weasleys, Harry and Hermione. "Arthur, Molly, I am sorry this has been concealed from you for so long" He pointed his wand at them both and "revealus abstrudo". At this display of magic, all the Sunnydalers eyes lit up, as did those of Arthur and Molly, who, after a few seconds of readjusting looked straight at Buffy.

"Becky Potter" whispered Molly, her eyes slowly filling with tears.

Harry, until then had not been paying great attention. Since Sirius' death, he had been finding it harder and harder to find things that interested him, his mind was just consumed by an immeasurable grief. When he heard Molly say his surname he looked up, and his stomach turned. Somewhere within him, he knew it was far too much of a coincidence. He looked at Dumbledore, who he had already managed to forgive for one betrayal, his eyes begging his head teacher not to have a new reason to hate him.

"Harry, I couldn't have told you" Dumbledore started hesitantly

"Told me what." He said, and despite his monosyllabic speech, his eyes betrayed the depth of emotion within him.

Willow, Giles and Xander had edged towards the back of the room, they knew what was coming and they didn't feel like they belonged in the dynamic at that particular moment. Dawn took a step closer to Buffy who was, for once, lost for what to say to the poor boy whose eyes reminded her, inexplicably, of Angel's final gaze before she pierced that sword through his heart. On either side of him, Hermione and Ron stood, Hermione's face clouded with empathy, while Ron shuffled awkwardly around.

"Harry, Buffy, I mean, Becky Potter was your parents first born child. Before you were born, there was a prophecy that meant that she had to be taken away. It was no-ones choice, you know as well as most that you cannot fight fate. I was bound to secrecy until she had finished her duty, and until she was free to come back into this life."

Buffy scoured the boys face and saw exactly what Dumbledore had seen in her face the night she had been told- disbelief mixed with apprehension. She couldn't decide whether to make a joke and lighten the mood, or whether it was necessary to have this initial awkward moment. The problem was solved when Harry, tight lipped, left the room silently, closing the door softly behind him. She decided it was probably her sisterly duty to follow, and ran after him, leaving everyone else to try and digest the days findings.


	3. Brooms and bonding

Allen Pitt: True, he could be bitter, but I think at this point he really needs to accept some emotional support from somewhere, what better place than his sisters. And I mean.. who can resist the charms of the summers girls...

Firewolfe: Thanks!

Zeynel: hehee i love your suggestions, I was very tempted to use some of them!

Two updates in one day.. how great am I?

………………………………………………………………………………………….

I own nothing, Joss and Ms Rowling own everything!

As Buffy sprinted out of the living room after her estranged little brother, she had to force herself not to stop running after him to look at all the interesting things she could see around her. She saw Harry grab a broom and head off into the sky, and smiling to herself, she grabbed a tatty old broom, opened the door and went into the garden. She looked at the broom in her hand, urging it to do something, but it stayed resolutely still. To all intents and purposes, it appeared to be just an ordinary kitchen broom. Buffy was determined to get on this giant stick and go and talk to her brother in a place in which he was obviously in his comfort zone. Feeling like a moron, she looked at the stick and said "go." Nothing happened. Buffy had a feeling that she was coming close to using her slayer strength to smash the broom on the ground, but she knew that would do no good in the long run, merely release some of her own pent up anger.

Meanwhile, Buffy had little notion that she was being surveyed by a figure in the sky. Despite himself, Harry was tempted to laugh as he watched the blonde girl, the American, his sister, trying to get on the broom. She looked like the sort of girl who would scream if she broke a nail, let alone was zooming around the sky on a thin piece of wood. He swooped around, his anger slowly beginning to disintegrate as mirth and reason set in. Having a sister.. that would mean that he would never have to go back to the Durselys. And it couldn't hurt to have some real family, although his friends played a very good familial role. He couldn't believe Dumbledore had lied to him again though. He had just about been able to forgive him for all the mistakes he had made regarding Sirius and the prophecy, but he had assumed that Dumbledore had told him all his secrets. He just didn't understand why the old, wise wizard had not seen fit to tell him any of it. He had a sister! He had family! Surely Dumbledore had realised even as early as the first year with his vision in the Mirror of Erais just how much family meant to him. Harry smirked as he watched the glee spread across the girl's face as she finally chose the right command word and her broom sprung into her hand at the order of "up", and thought to himself that no matter how bad his life had been, at least he had not been named Buffy.

Buffy soared upwards towards the speck in the sky that she guessed was Harry. As she came towards him, she laughed inwardly at the expression of shock on his face at her natural ability for flying and her apparent complete lack of fear. She came close to him, and Harry, unsure of what to do, waved a self conscious wave. Buffy looked at him as if to let him know that he wasn't getting off that easily, drew to one side of him and stuck out her hand, which, puzzled, he took.

"Hi, I'm Buffy, my life story includes being a vampire slayer, lots of apocalypses, lots of victories, one massive cabooming hell mouth shuttage, and finally one surprise little brother". Harry squeaked a little in surprise at the girl, realising that he had completely misread her previously. This was no ordinary girl. Feeling a reply was necessary, he half smiled and said "Name's Harry. Wizard, arch nemesis of very evil wizard, only possible hope for prevention of destruction of world." Buffy smiled fully at the boy, who she like already, and said firmly "well at least we have some things in common, I was worried we would have nothing to talk about.."

Back on the ground, the awkward group in the living room made polite conversation, the adults retiring to the kitchen to make the ultimate remedy, a nice cup of tea. Willow had to keep her hand firmly on Dawn's arm to prevent her from running outside. "Dawnie, I know its frustrating, but the poor boy's only just learnt he has one sister, let alone two" she murmured, fear bubbling inside her that somehow Dawn was going to get hurt in this situation. Seeing Dawn's discomfort, Hermione came across to the pair, and started talking to them, asking polite questions and filling them in on some of the lesser known details of Harry's past and character. Soon they were chatting easily, and Willow was flashing her grateful smiles for easing the situation for them all. Ron remained standing awkwardly in the corner, his eyes transfixed on the brunette American, and occasionally Hermione had to throw him one of her special 'stop gawking' stares. After the third, he got the message, and went and conversed with Xander about the joys of muggle 'kompu-ter games', although even after a half hour conversation, he was far too proud to admit he didn't have any idea what they were. Despite the initial awkwardness of the situation, they had almost forgotten that somewhere, Buffy and Harry would be making the first steps between forging a relationship between them.

Buffy and Harry were still up in the air, it seemed to provide the distance necessary for them to have the deep conversations needed without the atmosphere getting claustrophobic. After all, they both had a lot in their past that was hard to discuss with anyone, let alone a long lost relative. Harry had filled Buffy in on a brief outline of his early life and his various exploits with Voldemort. In turn, Buffy had had fun explaining her two deaths, brief spell in heaven, and early slayerage. She had decided to leave the vampire boyfriend losing his soul to an orgasm until she knew her little brother better, she thought it probably wouldn't make things any more comfortable with him. Buffy was careful not to push Harry out of his comfort zone, and he was talking more and more openly as the day went on. Buffy suddenly gasped, and Harry looked at her, concerned that he must have said or done something wrong.

"omgosh!" said Buffy, turning a delicate shade of lobster

Harry hesitated, unsure of what the appropriate response was. He looked at her quizzically, and cocked his head to one side

"I forgot to tell you about Dawn.." She was embarrassed with herself for failing to mention it earlier, she had just forgotten that he had no idea that he was signing himself up for a package deal of two lots of Summer's girls.

"Dawn.. the brunette who is in the living room Dawn?" said Harry befuddled

"To cut a long story short, Dawn used to be a big ball of green energy, some freaky monk people made her into my sister so I could stop the baddies from getting the energy, known as the key, she was made from my blood, therefore she's your sister too" Buffy said hurriedly, looking anxiously at Harry to see how he took this next surprise.

To her intense relief, Harry started laughing. The situation was so insane that he wasn't able to respond in any other way. This morning, he had been a normal boy, or at any rate, as normal as a world famous teenage wizard boy could be, now he had two sisters, one who used to be a big ball of energy and the other who had died. Twice. It was ironic that he had gone through life devoid of family until now, and suddenly he had an abundance relations just when he had a supportive friendship network so he didn't need to rely on family so much. He tried to ignore an instinctive pang of jealousy that he wouldn't be Buffy's only sibling, and that he would have to share a bond with the other girl, but realised how ridiculous he was being. Buffy told him a little more about Dawn, and Harry was just about to ask what she was like when he realised that the best way to find out had to be to go and meet the girl.

They took one final lap of the fields and valleys surrounding the burrow, and slowly started to descend on the garden, where they could hear Dawn exclaiming over the cuteness of the Gnomes, and screaming when Ron picked one up to throw it over the fence. Grabbing it out of his hand, she started to comfort it until it simultaneously vomited and urinated on her hand. Screaming in the way that only a teenage American girl can, she threw it over the fence, glaring at Ron who was crying with laughter next to her. Harry and Buffy came to a peaceful landing beside the scene, and Dawn felt her eyes filling with tears. This was not how she had wanted to meet her brother, covered in Gnome vomit. Willow and Hermione both independently noticed this and at the same time that Willow was casting a cleaning spell, Hermione pointed her wand at Dawn and said "Scourgify". The result was a double cleaning effect, with Dawn glowing whiter than ever before, curiously devoid of freckles. Both the witches blushed and apologised as Dawn bounded over towards Harry

"Hi you must be my new brother, I'm Dawn, I don't know if Buffy told you but I've only really existed for a few years. But at the same time I'm the same age as you. Kind of anyway. Anyway nice to meet you" Dawn babbled at Harry who looked slightly bemused but at the same time amused. He had a feeling that the sheer loneliness he had felt following the death of Sirius stood no chance of lingering in his system for much longer with those two around.


	4. Dead wizard running

Buffy woke to the smell of bacon frying, greasy and delicious

I own nothing, Joss and Ms Rowling own everything!

Buffy woke to the smell of bacon frying, greasy and delicious. In the way that only a hungry slayer can, she bounded downstairs in her spongebob squarepants pyjamas before stopping in her tracks as she realised that there were another two hot identical red headed British boys in the kitchen. They laughed when they saw her face and offered her some bacon. Just as she was wishing that a hole in the ground would swallow her up, she took a bite of the bacon and the ground literally did swallow her up. As far as she could observe, she seemed to have been transformed into an ugly carpet. She wouldn't have minded except that the carpet was not only cheap wool, but also a garish orange colour that made her think of the goo that had once come out a demon's eyeball as she stabbed it. She could see the boys above her howling with laughter, until eventually Molly came into the room to see what the racket was about. The speed at which they stopped laughing was impressive, and as Molly was exclaiming over the fact that the carpet had eyes that looked suspiciously like the blonde slayer's there was a loud pop as the boys disappeared, pursued by a frantic Molly who turned only to shout "derifiamus" to the carpet, which promptly turned into Buffy again. Buffy shook her head, went upstairs and pulled on her leather trousers and white top and went down again to try her luck at breakfast for a second time.

Hermione brushed her eyes as she turned over, drowsy from a long nights sleep. As she opened her eyes fully she suddenly realised that she was staring straight at sleeping Willow, who looked beautifully unconscious of the fact that she was being observed. Her duvet cover had fallen to one side, and the gentle curve of her bare spine was revealed. She had a cute mole on the right hand side which Hermione decided looked not dissimilar to a map of Algeria. A shiver went up her as she felt the fizz of an emotion that she did not quite understand. Perplexed, her natural instinct was to resolve herself to go and research whatever she was feeling in the library after lunch. She knew that it was normal and natural for girls to feel like this about each other, but she just wanted to check that it wasn't a hex that Fred and George had put on her.

Giles and Xander were due to leave at midday, so Molly was going her best to try and feed them with fried newt and pumpkin pasties to ensure that they wouldn't starve on the port key trip home. It had been pointed out to her that the trip would only take a quarter of a second, but she liked to do her duty as a hostess properly. Xander had mixed feelings about leaving his 3 closest girl friends, but he knew that his inferiority complex would only get far worse being in a place where he was the only "non magical" person, or squib as he overheard someone calling him. He was unimpressed when Buffy mentioned out that Squib was the nickname that Cordelia had once given a boy she had dated who had had a tiny penis. Especially as Xander had never told Buffy that Cordelia's pet name for him was Squib. As noon drew nearer, Dumbledore arrived wearing a fantastically wacky set of robes that both glowed and sparkled. He carried in his arm an empty tin of Heinz baked beans, which he placed on the middle of the table. Xander looked thoroughly perplexed as Dumbledore told him to put his finger on the tin, but both he and Giles did so, and as the tin began to glow they shouted there final goodbyes as they got whisked away back to Devon. As Giles left, he saw Willow looking longingly at Hermione, Ron making eyes at Dawn and the twins both oogling Buffy in her tight leather. As he disappeared, they could just make out his tiny British voice sighing "the joys of teenage hormones…"

"Well" Buffy said "Now that they've gone, who's up for playing magic wars?!"

Naturally they all were, so they split into teams of Buffy, Willow, Dawn, Hermione and Ginny against Ron, Harry, George and Fred. The boys were extremely confident and cocksure at first, as they knew that the girls supposedly had less experience. However, Willow's first move was to cast an impenetrable protection spell, which mentally drained her but allowed the girls to throw as many hexes at the boys without being hurt in return. The others gasped when they saw her pink protection bubble surround the girls as she had not used a wand, something that felt grotesquely wrong to them. They all remembered the times that the magic had sprung from them when they were young with no wand, and remembered how uncontrollable and deep that magic run. They didn't have time to look on in awe for too long though, as Buffy had left the bubble and had kicked George flat on his back before straddling him and tickling him. His protests fell on empty ears, especially when Fred shouted

"Quit complaining and enjoy being straddled by a hot blonde girl in leather".

George appreciated his point, but Buffy most certainly did not. However she did not have time to retaliate as she got hit straight in the face with a charm from Ron that was making huge rainbow bubbles come out of her mouth, each with a butterfly trapped inside. She was actually quite impressed at how nice it had been, especially considering that Ron had now been hexed by Hermione and was vomiting up frogspawn. This went on until all the boys were down. The girls cheered and hugged, and Buffy gestured to the others not to dehex her as she was enjoying the menagerie of butterflies that were fluttering around her. Eventually, even Buffy got sick of it, and with a wave of her hand Willow dehexed everyone.

Hermione gasped in awe and begged Willow to teach her wandless magic, so they went off to the house together. Ron, Harry and Ginny decided to give Dawn her first flying lesson, and Buffy was intrigued by the promise of a visit to Fred and George's joke shop and had promised to teach them some of the easiest physical ways to disarm someone.

Hermione and Willow were in the room that they shared with Ginny. Hermione was trying not to be too nosy, but was incredibly interested in how Willow had come to be involved in wandless magic

"So you joined a coven, and then you just all of a sudden became one of the worlds most powerful witches?!" she said, in awe of the red haired amazing yet unpretentious girl before her.

"Not exactly. It took a while.. my friends.. my friend.. Tara.." she tailed off and a tear dropped down her cheek. Hermione inwardly kicked herself for being insensitive and put an arm around her. They both shuddered a little and looked away from each other.

Willow continued, not wanting Hermione to think that she had upset her.

"Tara.. the first girl I ever truly loved"

At this Hermione started a little, then moved a little closer to Willow.

"We used to practice magic together. I got addicted. I hurt her, but she forgave me.. she was like that.. forgiving. Anyway, she was shot. There was nothing I could do to stop it, and there was nothing I could do to stop myself from turning into the monster I became. It's like when you are out at sea by yourself, and all around you is this vast abyss of ocean. That's how it felt, I was so isolated and so alone. I couldn't think, I couldn't concentrate on anything but revenge and the only way I could survive was to absorb more and more magic in the hope that I would eventually be able to feel something other than the despair. And then I did something that I have never forgiven myself for, and I never will forgive myself for" At this Willow broke off and started weeping. Hermione pulled her into her shoulder and despite the circumstances; both noticed how they fitted together like two halves of a whole. Eventually curiosity got the better of her, and she couldn't resist asking "What did you do?"

Willows big brown tear-filled eyes looked down as she replied "I killed a man."

Unsure of an appropriate response, Hermione put her finger below Willows chin and drew up her head so it was level with her own. With an instinct that left her no time to process what was happening, she brought her lips to Willows.

Ginny had nudged Ron until even Ron got the hint that maybe they ought to leave Dawn and Harry alone to get to know each other a little more. After all, they didn't have the simplest family situation in the world. Harry kept looking at Dawn's eyes and seeing the eyes that he saw every time he looked in the mirror. Lily's eyes. Yet he knew that she had never been cradled by his parents, never been loved in the same way that he knew that he and Buffy had been. It made him feel desperately sad, and he resolved to do everything possible to be the brother that she didn't have, especially as she was now away from Xander. While Dawn had already been given the brief synopsis of his life story, she was asking questions in her usual bubbly way, trying her best to understand this boy with the big smile but the sad eyes. It reminded her in a way of Buffy since she had been dragged back from heaven.

"so.. a friendly half giant dropped you from the sky onto your unsuspecting muggle aunts front doorstep. Neat. I was implanted into the world by a bunch of crazy monks, so you know, you don't have all the cool stories."

Harry laughed "yeh but at least I've saved the world more times than you"

"nuh-uh Mr, I've definitely stopped more apocalypses than your bony ass could ever have done. So don't go thinking that just because you're Mr Specialpants over here that you're going to be equally worshipped by your sister" As she said the word sister, there was a slight awkward pause and then they both smiled a little shyly at each other.

"God this whole situation is bizarre right?" Harry postulated, before concluding "Well, if you're my sister, then you'd better get used to this" sending a tickling hex in her way. He sat back and laughed as the brunette American tried to appear irate while rolling on the floor laughing. Eventually when Dawn's eyes started to weep with laughter Harry took pity on her and stopped the hex.

"You are so a dead man" she said, running after him

"Dead wizard actually.." he replied as he ran through the kitchen to escape the small but feisty Dawn.


End file.
